Demons (Damirae)

Chapter Ninety-Three

(Enjoy devilinyoureye - and happy birthday for yesterdayyy!)

It hadn't surprised anyone that Batman had insisted on going. And Jason. And Cassandra. And basically most of the Batfamily. Raven was now one of them- another devil child in the family, in quite the literal sense. Had Dick not been worried about Kori going in to labour while he was gone, he would've demanded to come along too. As would Selina, if Bruce hadn't insisted she stay and look after Belladonna with Alfred.

As it were, the people who'd gathered for the briefing were as follows:

Batman, Cassandra, Timothy, Jason, Stephanie and Kathy Kane of the Bats. (Bat woman found out by sheer chance and thought it would be a shame to miss the opportunity).

Constantine, Zatanna and Etrigan on the magical side: the ancient demon had been called upon by Constantine, who'd known that he would want to participate.

Lahra, Tyrone, Jackson and Zeela (yes, even the peaceful sea-dweller had tagged along) from the Dark preternatural community.

And of course, the collected loyal League of Assassins soldiers, reformed under the hand of Emrys (Damian's fellow legacy-demon trainee years ago) and recently, Talia Al Ghul.

That left only Raven, Damian and Adyn.

Oh- nope- Raven, Damian, Adyn and one other.

Adyn's lust interest himself, the Light Councilman Aleil. There were a few raised eyebrows at that- particularly from Constantine. Raven was coming to terms with the fact that her brother was falling for a creature of Light- that didn't mean she liked it- but at least Adyn was happy.

With them all congregated in the newly established  LoA headquarters in America (in Gotham) it was time to explain each party's role. Role in what? Only taking back control of Hell, no big deal.

***

Praying to the Mother spirit of the Netherrealm that her father didn't perk up now, Raven opened a black gaping portal leading in to the depths of Hell. Besides her, Constantine and Zatanna did likewise, with their two opening to different locations within the living lands- heaven forbid they enter the wastelands.

The largest of the two groups (the LoA soldiers, Emrys, Constantine, Zatanna, Etrigan, Red Robin (nobody say shit about Drake. In my happy world of make-believe, that title does not exist) ,the Red Hood, Batgirl, Batwoman, Lahra and Jackson) went through Constantine and Zatanna's portals. Their job was simple: defeat the soldiers of the Hellish forces . No problem.

The second group had a much harder task at hand. They had to get to the heart of Trigon's palace and tackle those at the head of this coup. Raven's three brothers. Representatives of the most despicable ones of her kind. Thriving on agony and hatred more than blood and flesh. Evil incarnate and evil in soul. Figures borne of malevolence and made in flowing rivers of innocent blood- all those children torn apart at their hands...oh the children...

And...something else. Something they weren't quite sure of. Something sitting on the throne with a visage masked man shadows and a body hugged by a cape that looked like terrorised wraiths sewn together by the Fates' hands.

With the alarm bells ringing through the palace, whose beauty came from the ceaseless labour of slaves. Their crumbling figures and trembling arms had hewn this great mass of dark elegance from jagged chunks of obsidian those eons ago. But that was history. And there was much worse history for Raven to regret for her ancestors.